Virtue and Honor
by ThetrueAmeliaP
Summary: And the truth shall set you free...In the age of electricity, the land had forgotten their gods, but never again. They will rue the day they forgot about the queen of the damned! Rated T for some violence, may go to M, because I can't censor myself. Went under some modifications, hope you like. And as always, let me know how I am doing, please. BTW, no pairings.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Darkness caressed the eastern skyline. One-hundred and sixty seasons ago, the bright civilization had burnt out their last battery. They fused the energy source to three civilians in an attempt to stave off the end of their power. The naturally imprinted imperative for power caused the three to kill one another. Eventually only one remained. A male, in his late teens, watched as a mad man killed his princess, struck a sword to the man's skull and killed him. He settled down in another country with a wife and their children, he never divulged to them of the darkness of his past.

His generation died away, the sea soon swallowed the dying kingdom; Hyrule in its vast expanse died lost its last grasp for life. Their neighbor Trint offered as much as they could to the refugees. However, war to the north stopped all traverse across the borders. Many Hylians started a new city in the desert territory next to the Gerudos, an Amazonian race of women. Some accepted the newcomers, others held to their puritan ways and exiled the more tolerant; the exiled Gerudo mingled with the Hylians to become the Geldesh.

As Hylians intermingled within the country, their knowledge of the old kingdom's weaponry and military tactics helped the Trinians win the war against the Norfic. As war ended, the country went through a renaissance of technological innovations. Soon the dark-age fortresses developed into sprawling metropolises, the streets paved, pathologists became licensed medical practitioners.

Unfortunately, technology spread like a rapid wild fire, leaving the forest dwellers in dire chaos. Some set up resistance to the change, preferring the old way of life—mainly the forest and the water dwellers, whose homes became too polluted to live. Some human species stepped up to protect the land, but because their lower status as humans, they were ignored.

Anger began to arise within the country; different factions of this way for old life stood up and rebelled. The advanced cities, in all their gloriousness, cut them down quickly; however, much to their surprise, more quickly replace the fallen. Hylian mythology told of the last power source, both sides determined that was the winning factor for this never-ending civil war.

Fifty years, nothing turned up, but both sides remained adamant that somewhere out there, the last holder of the Triforce was ripe for the taking.


	2. Veritas Liberabit Vos

The sky was tinted bronze with the smog; an industrial age had set upon Trint, rickety vehicles rumbled down cobble stoned pathways no faster than a trotting Hylian thoroughbred. The speed of life was not a priority here, rather it was the new possibilities to all people in the nation. Before Hyrule fell, the last great princess bestowed upon her cousin the invention of mechanics. From those cogs and gears grew clocks and engines, and from that, advanced sciences and technologies.

The queen's people no longer lived in times of fear of the dark. And all was happy for 50 years, eventually the newer generations knew nothing of the old gods, Helena the queen of the abyss and her harbinger, Sorg Dakk. Nor did they remember Owin, king of the heavens or his sons Ronan, Tambit and Thamir, lord of the earth, sky, and water. Instead, they believed in empirical sciences, deities in their own right. No child suffered illness or premature death. No elder had to face their final moments alone and in pain. All seemed heavenly in the kingdom. However, Trint's days of prosperity were coming to an end, the energy of their lands were fading and they knew not how to stop it.

Our tale begins with a young man named Veritas, a name given to him by his father, a middle-class Hylian merchant who had settled in Trint some twenty years after the collapse of Hyrule. His father was an old man by the time he was born, but he remembered his mother would fondly refer to him as "my dearest Link." He died the harvest season of his eighteenth year, he remembered that day vividly. It was the same day a bolt of lightning crashed down on his home leaving a hole in his ceiling. To this day, a tingling has never left his left hand; it is not the feeling of numbness, but electricity.

His mother passed from illness not too long after. Her dying words were to "find his truth," he thought she had finally lost all senses. Shortly after all his siblings had moved away, marrying into wealthier families or seeking out farms to call their own. As the youngest son, Veritas was not as lucky, too young to be considered of marriageable age, but too old to go into an orphanage. All that remained was the Trintian military. He learnt quickly he had a natural ability with a sword, but lacked the discipline to be considered talented.

After a particularly grueling day of morning drills, he was resting in the barracks, he began to realize Trint was more diverse than he ever began to fathom. Over in the court yard, Geldeshi warriors who were remnants of the Hylian folk who intermingled with the Gerudo population to the east, were playing as the defense in a game of Squartch. The rough leather ball flew across the field, going from foot to hand, and hand into basket. Norfic, who were the north dwelling people, who like Hylians were fair-haired and delicate features, but they were a harsh and vicious people. They played on the offensive, unafraid to knock down the tanned stocky warriors. The Aerocrotians, the ever haughty people, hovered above looking appalled by their crude behavior and flew elsewhere. The Aerocrotians were the winged people to the west; they looked considerably humanoid save giant wings that extended from their shoulders, possibly one of the most beautiful and exotic beings in the kingdom that Veritas knew of by far.

One winged being by the name of Kratos, though seemed to get some amusement from the game.

"Greetings, comrade." Silver wings fluttered as he planted his feet on the ground.

"And to you, comrade." Veritas lifts his palm in greeting, extending it forward for Kratos to finish the gesture. He complies.

"I saw you at training today…mightily impressive, I dare say." The Hylian blushed slightly.

"I am much too impatient for my own good." He breathed out a nervous chortle, at which the Aerocrotian started to laugh grandly.

"You are not one for words are you, boy?" At this, he bristled. He was no boy, he was well underway to being a grown man.

"And what are you? Of 21 years?" Sensing his thoughts, Kratos lifted his hands in a placating gesture.

"Alright, alright, you are not a child…but you are not yet a man either." He said almost softly, at this Veritas quieted.

"You are not like the others, they look at us wingless ones in disgust, while you seem almost contented with our presence, why is that?" Oceanic blue eyes peered curiously into almost haunted rubies.

"I will tell you this; I sometimes wish I were to give up these wings for a moment's freedom. Say, is there something I could call you other than Veritas. It is rather an astute name, but it is not easy to say, forgive my tongue." He gave a slight bow in apologies.

Veritas' first thought was of his mother speaking about his father. "Link…you can call me that, I suppose…" Rather than smirking at the odd name, the winged man merely raised an elegant eyebrow.

"That is interesting. Does that name run in your family?" What an odd question, but he replied nonetheless.

"It was my father's name. I know not of my grandfather's name. Why do you ask such odd questions?"

"Maybe for another time… Now look at the time, we'll be late for mid-day drills." The Aerocrotian grabbed his newfound friend by the shoulders and led him to the training field.

"You, Kratos, are a peculiar fellow."

*On the plains of Morder*

A wide crack snapped open the earth, what sprung forward seemed from the dark crevasses of nightmares. A black cloud rose, taking the form of a man, a handsome one at that. He was a tall, stocky man with skin as gray as a foggy morning, but had eyes and hair darker than night. He let forth a sorrowful wail, a nearby sheepherder heard the cry and came running. The beige tunic caught the man's eye.

"By the Queen, why are you screaming like the dead caught you? And why are you nek'ked, boy?" The shepherd's staff was in grabbing distance.

"If I am here, my mistress is not far behind. She is very angry with you mortals. S-so very angry." The shepherd's neck snapped sideways and he crumpled. Sobbing, the man put on the shepherd's garments and began walking, seeing what was once known as the valley of Skuggar, his Mistress's old domain, turned into a metropolis of creatures, his aching heart only stung more.

"Poor, poor creatures. You shall perish in most obscene ways." The Harbinger of Sorrow had arrive to the last citadel of the Goron people, the children of the mountain raced down the out-cropping, little Ruto children, were in much more abundance than the last time he was on the surface sixty years ago. Their talon claws playfully trying to fly away with the stone children.

Smoke and cinder began to appear at his feet, the smell of a campfire made the children stop playing, looking over into the plain. The Ruto's fear instincts rushed to them immediately and they flew off to their roost on the other mountain. The Goron children were not so lucky, their cherub demeanor and (no pun intended) hard headedness made the children open to greeting the burning stranger.

"Hey mister, your feet are smoking." A little Goron boy pointed out obviously and the Harbinger sighed.

"My dear boy, I am but a hot coal from a burning pipe of lava. A lava, of which will consume you all." The mountain shook, a low moan echoed from the ground.

Hel on earth had finally arrived.

(A/N: I couldn't stand what I had before so I changed it. I hope that it was for the better. Link had become too much of a whiner and I couldn't seem to get out from behind a blockage. So I made him younger and more flawed than I originally intended. Kratos, I'm going to try and make his character stronger than it was previously. And finally I may or may not post a character list of the team I plan on forming later in the story. The next couple of chapters may get graphic, but nothing obscene.)

P.S. It may take a while to update again with school and all, but your patience will be rewarded (How I have yet to figure out)

Cheers.


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